The+Chateau+Clique

=__**Château Clique**__=

The chateau clique originated from a small group of officials, usually members of the anglophone community. It is a group of wealthy families in lower Canada in the early 19th century. The more permant members, James Mcgill and John Molson where very successful business men who didnt want anything to change. They out ran the executive and legislative councils, the judiciary and senior bureaucratic positions of Lower Canada until the 1830s. Appointed by the governor, the Chateau Clique helped shape public policy and land grants.

Soon the Chateau Clique persuaded the banking institutions, Seigneurial system and the french civil law. By 1810 the government was limited to the appointed councils, imperial authorities are giving special favours to the French-speaking majority. The anglophone (English speaking people) had slipped out of the elected assembly by French Canadian professionals. Before 1810 the officials turned down Pierre Bedard's attempts to institute ministerial responsibility; but in the early 1820's they let the assembly control public revenues and continued their efforts aimed at the of French Canadians. 1822 the clique supported a scheme to reunite Upper and Lower Canada; and in the 1830s it blocked Louis-Joseph Papineua's resolution to form a responsible government. By 1834 lots of tension rised and had to isolate politics that that only 9 English-speaking assemblymen supported the appointed councils, and after that the popularity of the Château Clique had declined. Tehy were known as the electoral scene on the Parti Bureaucrate. AKA the British Party or the Tory party. like the family compact, the chateau clique gained most of its influence after the war of 1812. Most of the families in the clique were British Merchants.

The constitutional act of 1791 had established three branches of government: Legislative assembly, an elected lower house, The legislative council, an appointed upper house, Executive council, which acted as a kind of cabinet for the lieutenant governor. The clique was able to establish itself in the Legislative Council, leaving the legislative asembly. which was made up of a majority of French-Canadian representatives, with little or no money.

__**Bibliography**__
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/chateau-clique http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_were_the_Chateau_Clique http://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1840/1840-06-family-compact.html